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NSTC Report on Quantum Information Science

July 27, 2016

Quantum defects in diamond provide a non-invasive, high-resolution image (right) of the magnetic field produced by a single tumor cell immersed in a sample of human blood. Conventional optical imaging (left) cannot detect the tumor cell because the blood scatters and absorbs light. Magnetic fields pass unaffected through the blood, allowing the magnetically sensitive quantum defects to detect the tumor cell. (Image credit: Walsworth Group/Harvard)

The National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) has issued a new Report, Advancing Quantum Information Science: National Challenges and Opportunities, which prominently features results from several Harvard Physics research groups. In particular, NV-diamond sensing and imaging results from the Mikhail Lukin, Hongkun Park, Ronald Walsworth, and Amir Yacoby groups are cited on pages 5 and 7 of the report; and the ACME result from the John Doyle and Gerald Gabrielse groups, as well as the DeMille group at Yale, is cited on page 7.

The NSTC report being issued today is the product of an interagency working group that was created to assess the current status of the field, coordinate activities across the relevant Federal agencies, engage stakeholders, and consider ways to address impediments and facilitate progress in quantum information science (QIS). Efforts to date have included internal discussions, agency-led and interagency workshops, and public requests for information; working group efforts will continue to include both Federal activity and outreach to the relevant research, development, and related communities in support of the broad ecosystem needed to realize the promise of quantum information science. (read more on the White House blog)